Photographic Memory: Artist Covers Family Home in Pics Prior to Demolition

To celebrate 70 years of family memories, artist Gary Sweeney
plastered his family home in Manhattan Beach with old
photographs, an installation that lasted until the building was
demolished.

The photos, shot by his late father, were printed out in large
formats and turned into a kind of exterior wallpaper
documenting the artist’s childhood. At night, spotlights
illuminated the work that wrapped facades and covered doors.

“I went through kind of a mini-panic when I sold the house and
I really felt the need to do something to commemorate it and to
give it a proper goodbye,” Sweeney said, peering at the roof’s
peak through his red-framed glasses. “So this is what I came up
with.” Putting up the photos, Sweeney struck up conversations
with visitors who had traveled to see the work as well as
friendly neighbors sad to see him go.

A Manhattan Beach Memoir: 1945-2015 also involved tours of the
place, a way to come to terms with the sale, the destruction
and the home’s replacement with an apartment complex. Sweeney
said “I hope it triggers fond memories of the family because my
father was a very beloved man, and for people who didn’t know
the family, I hope it triggers memories of their own of growing
up in Manhattan Beach.”